Institutes of special education serve a nation in making the special persons as beneficial and contributing as normal individuals of a society could be. This miracle is possible, only through education that handicapped or disable persons could participate in the development of a nation rather than becoming a burden on the state. That is why the developed nations of the world spend lots of money on special education by facilitating special persons with special aids, necessary for education.
In Pakistan, where even literacy rate for normal people and facilities are very low, there are very few education institutions or facilities for disabled or special persons.
Visually impaired or blind students can be educated at par with normal students if the following important steps could be taken.
• Publishing of books in brail
• Audio library containing all the educational material
• Trained teachers who can teach the blind students
• Special facilities in normal institutions to accommodate blind students
• Availability of computers with software especially designed for the blinds
• Training of teachers of normal institutions to cope with the blinds
• TV programs/websites that can promote the techniques and tips for the teachers and parents of the blinds
• Along with normal printing, brail printing should also be adopted on the boxes or containers of all products like medicine, grocery, electronics, etc as it is practiced in developed countries like France, so the blinds can have the first-hand information.
These steps not only can be helpful in educating the blinds, but at the same time, could create a balance in our society and can eradicate dependency of the blind.
KIRAN ILYAS (a blind student)
Lahore
